• The BNP Paribas Open championship on Sunday is an all-Swiss match-up between No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka,and No. 9 seed Roger Federer. It is the first all-countrymen final in Indian Wells since 2001 when Andre Agassi defeated Pete Sampras. There have been four other all-American finals in the tournament’s 42-year history. Federer comes into his seventh Indian Wells final without losing a set or serve. Wawrinka is making his first appearance in the Indian Wells final. This is the oldest combined final in tournament history between Federer (35y, 7m) and Wawrinka (31y, 11m). The winner will become the oldest champion in tournament history, surpassing Jimmy Connors (31y, 5m), who captured the title in 1984.

• Federer owns a 19-3 head-to-head record, including 14-0 on hard courts. Federer won the two previous meetings here in 2011 QF (63 64) and 2013 4R (63 67 75). Wawrinka won the only final between the two at ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo in 2014. Wawrinka’s other two wins also came on clay at 2009 Monte-Carlo and 2015 Roland Garros, his last win. Federer has won the past three meetings, the last coming in a five-set semi-final at the Australian Open in January. The other all-Swiss ATP World Tour final came in 2000 Marseille as Marc Rosset beat Federer in a third set TB.

• Federer is trying to claim his record-tying fifth Indian Wells title (w/Djokovic), 25th ATP Masters 1000 crown and 90th overall title in his career. He won titles here in 2004-05-06 and 2012 while reaching finals in 2014-15. At 35, Federer is trying to become the oldest player to win an ATP Masters 1000 title. Andre Agassi was 34y, 3m, when he won in Cincinnati in 2004. Federer’s last ATP Masters 1000 title came in Cincinnati in 2015, two weeks after turning 34. He won that tournament without getting broken (held 49 service games). Federer has held all 37 service games (saving one break point vs. Nadal in 4R). He is 12-1 on the season, including 5-0 vs. Top 10 opponents, his best showing to start the year since 2004 when he went 18-0 and finished No. 1. Federer will move from No. 10 to No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday and if he wins the title, will move to No. 6. Federer is also trying to become the fourth two-time champion on the ATP World Tour this season. The others are: Grigor Dimitrov, Jack Sock and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

• Wawrinka is appearing in his fourth ATP Masters 1000 final (1-2), the first in the U.S. His lone ATP Masters 1000 title came in Monte-Carlo in 2014. Overall, he is 15-10 in career finals and his only previous final/title in the U.S. came at last year’s US Open where he defeated No. 1 Djokovic in the final for his third Grand Slam crown. Wawrinka has dropped two sets in five matches en route to the final, in wins over [LL} Nishioka in 4R and [8] Thiem in QF, both in third-set tie-breaks.

• Three of the Big Four (except Murray) have accounted for 12 of the past 13 Indian Wells titles going back to 2004 when Federer captured the first of his four titles (2004-06, 2012). Overall a Top 5 player in the Emirates ATP Rankings has lifted the champion’s trophy in 15 of the past 16 years, except 2010 when No. 26 Ivan Ljubicic won the title. Ljubicic is Federer’s coach.

Watch your favourite players work on their games by taking in a live stream at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

World No. 1 Andy Murray has withdrawn from the Miami Open presented by Itau with a right elbow injury. The two-time Miami champion made the announcement on Saturday, confirming he will miss this event for the first time since 2005.

“Sadly due to a right elbow injury, I won’t be playing in Miami,” said Murray in a statement. “Apologies to the fans, it’s one of my favorite tournaments. The focus now is on getting ready for the clay season.”   

Murray will likely rue missing the opportunity to increase his lead in the Emirates ATP Rankings over World No. 2 Novak Djokovic. He lost in the third round last year in Miami to Grigor Dimitrov, while Djokovic won the title for the third consecutive year.

#NextGenATP player Taylor Fritz will take Murray’s spot in the draw. The Miami Open presented by Itau runs from 22 March-2 April.

Rajeev Ram gave himself the best possible 33^rd birthday present on Saturday at the BNP Paribas Open, teaming with Raven Klaasen to defeat eighth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo 6-7(1), 6-4, 10-8 to take the doubles title in Indian Wells.

The victory gives Klaasen and Ram their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title as a team. It’s the first Masters 1000 title for Ram and second for Klaasen, who previously won Shanghai in 2015 with Melo. This is Klaasen/Ram’s fifth title as a team and second of 2017, having also prevailed last month in Delray Beach.

Four of their five matches this fortnight went to a Match Tie-break. Klaasen/Ram also have the unique distinction of recording back-to-back wins in this tournament over Rafael Nadal (w/Tomic) and Novak Djokovic (w/Troicki) in their second-round and quarter-final matches.

When you think of one to win and how to win it, this is about as good as it gets. To play two legends of the game that are still playing, Nadal and Djokovic, and then to go all the way to finish the trophy out is something that I will cherish for a long time,” said Klaasen. “We thought that we were playing well enough to win it, but it’s still very difficult, specifically this tournament, to go all the way given the amount of good players in the draw.”

The first set saw five of the 12 games go to a deciding point, but there were no breaks of serve going into the tie-break. Kubot proved to be the star player in the crucial stages of the set, helping land an early mini-break on Klaasen’s serve and then hitting a return winner off Ram’s first-serve to give his team a 5/1 lead. A strong first serve from Kubot on their first set point gave the eighth seeds a commanding lead.

It appeared that Kubot/Melo would storm to the title after a volley error from Klaasen gave them the first break of the match to lead 2-1 in the second set. However, nerves from Kubot saw the Polish player hit a double fault down break point to gift the lead back and even the set at 4-4. Two games later, a forehand return winner from Klaasen on set point leveled the match at one set each.

The Match Tie-break proved to be a nervy affair, with both teams recognising the importance of the occasion. Little separated the two pairs throughout, but a big return of serve from Klaasen on match point at 9/8 guided them to the title after one hour and 46 minutes.

I think everybody’s goal, whether singles or doubles, is to make it to the ATP World Tour Finals at the end of the year. A title like this definitely puts us in good position to at least try to do that,” said Ram. “I think it’s good validation for what we’re doing. We are trying to improve all the time. And when you see results that back up the work you have done, it really makes it motivating to keep going and keep trying to continue to get better.”

 Watch Full Match Replays

At this week’s prestigious $150,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Irving, U.S.A., the elite competitors in the singles draw garnered a lot of attention. A multitude of #NextGenATP players joined a red-hot Nikoloz Basilashvili, Jeremy Chardy and former champions Marcel Granollers, Aljaz Bedene and Lukas Rosol to create one of the strongest fields of the year.

But players and fans around the Four Seasons Resort and Sports Club are quick point out that the doubles draw is just as ruthless, with the level of competition akin to an ATP World Tour event. In fact, at No. 134 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings it boasts the highest cut at any Challenger since 2010. Former Top 10 stalwarts Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna, Jonathan Erlich, Alexander Peya, Philipp Petzschner, Oliver Marach and Robert Lindstedt have been driving fans to take in the action.

“If you look at the singles and doubles draws this week, you see how many top players are coming here,” former World No. 1 Paes said. “This might be one of the toughest draws for a Challenger in the world.”

“I was really surprised with how strong the draw is,” said 18-time tour-level titlist Erlich. “I came here because I’ve heard good stories about the tournament and I think people were saying that it would be strong, but not like this. It’s not almost, it is like an ATP World Tour event. Not just the facilities, but the level of the players is the same as a tour-level event. With five or so former Top 10 players and Grand Slam winners, it’s amazing. And the rest are very good too. The level of the doubles here is outstanding and could be even better than the singles.”

Good friends Petzschner and Peya teamed up this week for the 38th time in their storied careers, having reached four ATP World Tour doubles finals together from 2008-16. The Austrian-German duo cut their teeth in Irving in preparation for a deep run at the next ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Miami, which begins Wednesday.

It’s a family affair at @IrvingClassic. @AlexanderPeya has a post-match hit with sons Noah and Eliah after 1R win with @PPetzschner. pic.twitter.com/5DiCLnGBsn

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) March 15, 2017

“It’s amazing,” said former World No. 3 Peya. “Me and Philipp didn’t even get into the cut and we’re fortunate to get a wild card. The quality of the draw and level of the players here is special for a Challenger event. There are former Grand Slam champions and Top 10 players across the board. It’s good quality and a lot of people have come out to watch the matches.”

“I love this tournament,” added Petzschner, a former World No. 9 and six-time ATP World Tour doubles titlist. “I’m close friends with the three guys running it and it’s always good fun. The facilities are amazing. You see it with the quality of the draw. I think it’s the toughest I’ve ever seen. A cut in the 120s is ridiculous. I hope this tournament remains for a long time. They are doing a tremendous job.”

On Sunday, top seeds Marach and Fabrice Martin will face Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner, who are coming off a run to the final at the Brasil Open in Sao Paulo. Marach and Martin lead the FedEx ATP Head2Head 1-0, following a first-round victory in Antwerp late last year.